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> States banned math books for being too woke. > being asked to breathe children’s germs Ok. This article is basically a long rant, and this kind of teacher

> States banned math books for being too woke. > being asked to breathe children’s germs Ok. This article is basically a long rant, and this kind of teacher is exactly what contributed to the burning out of my wife as a teacher. She wanted to teach math, but was being asked to teach social justice math. > I mean, they’re letting anyone in the classroom now. I’m surprised they haven’t started recruiting the homeless. Is this a dig at the latest Desantis bill to fast track veterans into teaching roles? Another complaint, my wife went to one of the highest ranked schools in the country, and was just shy of the minimum gpa requirement to go into the public school system right out of college. Instead she went and taught at charter schools, and her students regularly outperformed other schools in the network with math scores. But she wasn't qualified to teach math until she did a graduate program that had nothing to do with math. She quit the graduate school program because she was being graded on her ability to be inclusive in the classroom and it was a rubric designed for pushing equity and social justice, when again...she was trying to teach math. She would have been just "anyone" being allowed to teach in a classroom.

atoav 4y ago
What would "social justice math" look like? Serious question, I can't even imagine. Here in Europe math education hasn't changed a ton in the past decades at all.
- rayiner 4y ago
  It’s an effort by teachers unions to use their presence in schools to socialize minority children into viewing themselves as victims of pervasive racism and to cultivate activist leanings that will lead them to vote democrat (the party tightly aligned with teachers unions): https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/teaching-math-through-a-social-justice-lens/2020/12 https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/teaching-math-throu...
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- Tomte 4y ago
  The rallying cry seems to be that "2+2=4 is racist". Expanded a bit, it seems to be that insisting that some answers are "wrong" disregards students' differing backgrounds and diverse avenues to solve problems.
  - yonaguska 4y ago
    Some of it was also that she shouldn't expect students to do homework, or she was expected to try and use word problems with narratives.
    - ekimekim 4y ago
      Those...sound like reasonable things? Many students aren't going to learn by rote memorization of completing homework. It it helpful to support different learning styles. A big problem with math education is that it's too abstract. It's hard to relate mathematical concepts to real life. "When are we going to use this?", people ask. Phrasing your questions in terms of real problems with a narrative can help students learn.
      - Tomte 4y ago
        Homework usually isn't rote learning (unless we're talking foreign language vocabulary – and there rote learning is important!), but practice. Students get to practice what the teacher (tried to) showed them with different problems, so both they and the teacher can see if they mastered the topic.
        astrange 4y ago
        IIRC most of the evidence shows homework isn’t very useful for learning. (And, unfortunately, that almost no skills generally transfer over to other skills, ie that practicing math doesn’t improve anything other than that specific math.)
        Ekaros 4y ago
- ndriscoll 4y ago
  Presumably things like California's proposed new math standards documents[1]. In chapter 7 (for 11-13 year olds) there are examples like this: > BLUE Family: 2 adults; 2 children You are a Latinx family with two children under the age of five. Mom stays home to take care of the children. Dad works 40 hours per week at a construction company that pays two times minimum wage for nontipped employees. > YELLOW Family: 1 adult You are a young, single Black woman who is going to school part time and working full time (40 hours per week). You work at the same construction company as the dad of the BLUE family, but most Black women (including you) make 64 percent of what men at the company make. i.e. the government encouraging flamebaiting over race/sex. The example goes on to have children conclude the minimum wage is unfair and encourage them to write letters to their representatives about raising it based a comparison of wages to cost of rentals in Chicago. Mind you, when this proposal was making the rounds a couple years ago, I looked up rentals in Chicago and found plenty at a fraction of the quoted numbers for the exercise, but the point of the exercise is to teach children the virtues of activism, not to teach them to use math to understand their world. [1] https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ma/cf/ https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ma/cf/
rayiner 4y ago
> Is this a dig at the latest Desantis bill to fast track veterans into teaching roles Her comparison of veterans to homeless people speaks volumes about where she is coming from. As I understand it, the DeSantis bill allows veterans who have 60 credits and pass a subject exam to get a provisional teaching certificate while they complete their degree: https://flgov.com/2022/08/17/governor-ron-desantis-highlights-teacher-recruitment-initiatives-and-education-rule-changes-that-allow-florida-veterans-to-receive-college-credit-for-military-courses https://flgov.com/2022/08/17/governor-ron-desantis-highlight.... That sounds like a great idea.
civilized 4y ago
And there's no evidence that these graduate degree requirements are needed or beneficial for quality teaching. They're just as baseless as requiring people - many of them poor and marginalized - to spend tens of thousands of dollars and do months of coursework before they're "licensed" to cut hair. Well-intentioned rank-and-file teachers must realize that their union superiors advocate for some of the reasons their profession burns them out.
onos 4y ago
I’d pay a premium to access teachers like your wife. I’m not against my children having whatever politics they come to through their experiences, but am very weary of biased presentation and indoctrination.

atoav 4y ago

What would "social justice math" look like? Serious question, I can't even imagine. Here in Europe math education hasn't changed a ton in the past decades at all.

rayiner 4y ago
It’s an effort by teachers unions to use their presence in schools to socialize minority children into viewing themselves as victims of pervasive racism and to cultivate activist leanings that will lead them to vote democrat (the party tightly aligned with teachers unions): https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/teaching-math-through-a-social-justice-lens/2020/12 https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/teaching-math-throu...
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
Tomte 4y ago
The rallying cry seems to be that "2+2=4 is racist". Expanded a bit, it seems to be that insisting that some answers are "wrong" disregards students' differing backgrounds and diverse avenues to solve problems.
- yonaguska 4y ago
  Some of it was also that she shouldn't expect students to do homework, or she was expected to try and use word problems with narratives.
  - ekimekim 4y ago
    Those...sound like reasonable things? Many students aren't going to learn by rote memorization of completing homework. It it helpful to support different learning styles. A big problem with math education is that it's too abstract. It's hard to relate mathematical concepts to real life. "When are we going to use this?", people ask. Phrasing your questions in terms of real problems with a narrative can help students learn.
    - Tomte 4y ago
      Homework usually isn't rote learning (unless we're talking foreign language vocabulary – and there rote learning is important!), but practice. Students get to practice what the teacher (tried to) showed them with different problems, so both they and the teacher can see if they mastered the topic.
      - astrange 4y ago
        IIRC most of the evidence shows homework isn’t very useful for learning. (And, unfortunately, that almost no skills generally transfer over to other skills, ie that practicing math doesn’t improve anything other than that specific math.)
        Ekaros 4y ago
ndriscoll 4y ago
Presumably things like California's proposed new math standards documents[1]. In chapter 7 (for 11-13 year olds) there are examples like this: > BLUE Family: 2 adults; 2 children You are a Latinx family with two children under the age of five. Mom stays home to take care of the children. Dad works 40 hours per week at a construction company that pays two times minimum wage for nontipped employees. > YELLOW Family: 1 adult You are a young, single Black woman who is going to school part time and working full time (40 hours per week). You work at the same construction company as the dad of the BLUE family, but most Black women (including you) make 64 percent of what men at the company make. i.e. the government encouraging flamebaiting over race/sex. The example goes on to have children conclude the minimum wage is unfair and encourage them to write letters to their representatives about raising it based a comparison of wages to cost of rentals in Chicago. Mind you, when this proposal was making the rounds a couple years ago, I looked up rentals in Chicago and found plenty at a fraction of the quoted numbers for the exercise, but the point of the exercise is to teach children the virtues of activism, not to teach them to use math to understand their world. [1] https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ma/cf/ https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ma/cf/

rayiner 4y ago

> Is this a dig at the latest Desantis bill to fast track veterans into teaching roles Her comparison of veterans to homeless people speaks volumes about where she is coming from. As I understand it, the DeSantis bill allows veterans who have 60 credits and pass a subject exam to get a provisional teaching certificate while they complete their degree: https://flgov.com/2022/08/17/governor-ron-desantis-highlights-teacher-recruitment-initiatives-and-education-rule-changes-that-allow-florida-veterans-to-receive-college-credit-for-military-courses https://flgov.com/2022/08/17/governor-ron-desantis-highlight.... That sounds like a great idea.

civilized 4y ago

And there's no evidence that these graduate degree requirements are needed or beneficial for quality teaching. They're just as baseless as requiring people - many of them poor and marginalized - to spend tens of thousands of dollars and do months of coursework before they're "licensed" to cut hair. Well-intentioned rank-and-file teachers must realize that their union superiors advocate for some of the reasons their profession burns them out.

onos 4y ago

I’d pay a premium to access teachers like your wife. I’m not against my children having whatever politics they come to through their experiences, but am very weary of biased presentation and indoctrination.